Apocalypse
by Loli-Lolitaa
Summary: The end has stricken. Sniffles knew it would before it was even spurted on the news; so he invents something to save the lives of his friends. The Tree Friends are convinced that the safety of Sniffles' machine will protect them, but Shifty's selfish act had mixed the intentions for his new machine, transeferring them into a threatening new world. (Flippy/EvilxFlaky, LammyxLifty)
1. Time

_**Hello again everyone, I'm back with a story to make up for my silly disappearance. (Oh, I was previously SovietNaziCat!)**_

The story will start slowly, with not a lot of action but more of a work-up towards it, so I hope I don't bore you :')

So here it is loveliess! I hope you enjoy!  


_Chapter 1: Time_

Dozens of scrunched and torn pieces of paper were scattered around the floor of Sniffles' laboratory. Some managed to land in the small metal bin as intended, but after endless mistakes on each new sheet, the bin became to full, and began to litter the floor. The pastel blue anteater could feel it; he was so close yet so very far from perfecting his blue prints. This wasn't something that could be done in any amount of time, no, his time was thinly limited, and the pressure was weighing down on his shoulders as he hunched over his desk in concentration. Fingers tingling from the strain of writing, Sniffles stopped for a brief moment and closely scanned the detail of his roughly sketched structures.

"_God damn it!_" He spurted in frustration, slamming his pen down harshly on the metal desk. Sniffles was beginning to feel desperate for success with his plans and diagrams. He sat back against the soft cushion of his chair and the sudden realisation of the aching pain in his neck and back jolted down his spine.

The anteater's gaze wandered to his wrist watch as he pushed back the sleeve of his pale grey shirt. He sighed a tiresome sigh –_ 'It's already 6?'_ he thought to himself in slight astonishment. He questioned where all the time had gone. Waking up bright an early was his plan last night, and accomplishing the sketches for final adjustments to his machine-in-the-making was his goal. But time seemed as though it was going against him on the day he needed it the most. The small circular window at the back of the room allowed the beautiful glow of the setting sun to illuminate the dull colours of the laboratory.

Sniffles was aware that he was overworking himself. His stomach had been groaning for food since the moment he woke, but preoccupation of working had shut out any want for food. Shifting his arms from their position on the table, he noticed that food wasn't the only thing he'd been neglecting; the dampened patches on the underarms of his shirt rubbing against his skin and fur made him cringe with shame and disgust. A shower seemed like a good idea right about now. Then perhaps a bite to eat too. But before he could push on to make a move for his bathroom, he paused as a particular envelope, already opened and acknowledged, caught his eye. After realisation hit him, the blue-furred male cursed to himself...how could he have forgotten her birthday was it today? Sniffles deeply exhaled, rubbed away the throbbing stress in his temples, and adjusted his circular rimmed glasses.

As he stood from his chair his limbs automatically stretched away the stiff numbness from being idle for a prolonged amount of time. Sniffles' head fuzzed from a sudden rush of movement, and his eyesight blurred for a second or too of re-adjusting. Finally feeling as though his senses were back in gear once again, Sniffles exited the darkness of the lab.

**...~x~X~x~...**

Elsewhere in town, just before the forests that edged the border of Happy Tree Town, one particular house was lively with light and laughter. Little Lammy's birthday party came around quicker than she expected, but she was certainly ecstatic to finally be at a double-digit age – she felt older already. No one felt it was necessary to explain to her that she was still, in fact, very young at the age of 10, because disheartening her on such a special occasion would ruin her own little reality. The living room lights were off with a flick of the switch, grabbing the attention of everyone who had now hushed down their chatting and giggling. It was time for the birthday cake.

Everyone in the room picked up on the situation, and then slowly began to sing 'Happy Birthday' to the gushing, blushing lamb. All the while, Flaky slowly strolled into the dining room from the kitchen with the cake resting in her palms on top of a large white plate, singing along with the others. The ten lucid, orange flames danced atop of the candles, and contrasted with a dim glow amidst the dark room. Lammy's face was brightly illuminated by candlelight as the sweet-scented cake was placed on the dining table in front of her. Her twinkling baby blue eyes widened, along with her smile, as she examined the many decorations and icing patterns on top of the cake; it was simple, yet heart-warming, each candle was neatly lodged into a rose made from baby pink icing, and they were dotted around the edge of the circular cake along with the purple icing that swirled in and out of the roses like a ribbon. Grinning with appreciation, Lammy looked up at her carer, Flaky, who smiled back and rested her hand upon her small shoulder. The moment the singing had stopped was the moment Lammy inwardly conjured her wish to herself before inhaling air to the content of her tiny lungs, then blowing it all out over the candles until the flickering flames had vanished.

The lights were on once again, and a roar of applause from every one of her friends aroused her embarrassment once more, and she blushed and looked down at her delicious cake to avoid eye-contact. Luckily for the guests, the cake was large enough to equally feed everyone who was sat around the outstretched table. Wasting no more time, Flaky handled the knife and began to cut each slice, placing them on plates and having each of their friends pass the plates down until everyone had a slice.

Busy on her feet to keep her foster daughter's party a perfect one, she quickly rushed around the table to collect each and every knife, or any other sharp object that lingered around the many platters of party food. There was an empty seat at the table. He had to wait outside as the candles were lit and the cake was cut. Though most felt guilty for making him wait outside the dining room door that was only opened ajar for him to hear, they acknowledged the risk of the otherwise. So as everyone went back to chatting and stuffing their faces to satisfactory, the red porcupine placed the remaining slice of cake on to a plate and carried it in her hands along with a fork as she walked towards the door at the far end of the room.

Flippy had patiently seated himself in the living room on Flaky's couch. He respected their cautions of himself around certain possible triggers and left the room with no fuss. Honestly, being forced to leave the room so Lammy could make her wish and blow out her ten candles was saddening, and Flippy was rather upset to miss the moment. However, his action may have just saved their lives for the night, and thus, Lammy's birthday party will not end with a war-driven veteran parading in a blood-painted room filled with the remains of the slaughtered Tree Friends. The bear suddenly noticed the door had opened as the mix of cheerful voices from the dining room was louder. Flippy looked towards the sound, smiling when he noticed Flaky coming out from the room; his stomach rumbling as he spotted the plate of cake in her hands.

Gratefully taking the plate from her giving hands, he rested it on his lap and used the fork to scoop at the corner of the cake before eating it. Flippy personally preferred to eat his cake in silence from the others, and was happy for Flaky to join him.

"So how was she?" Flippy asked. Flaky found herself smiling at his question as she thought back to Lammy.

"She looked happy," Flaky replied, "seeing her so content makes me feel so much better. I just...well..." Flaky stopped to drift off into much deeper thought. Too deep, if Flippy didn't know her any better, so he urged her on a little,

"Go on."

"I just want to be able to feel like...like I'm treating her better than her real parents. All I've ever wanted was a child of my own, but having Lammy as my foster daughter has brought me so much happiness o-over the past t-two years..." Flaky's voice trembled as a lump of emotions formed in her throat. Flippy's smile faded with worry as he watched fresh tears roll down her flushed cheeks. Then he clicked on eventually; her glossy eyes, slow speech, spur of emotional thoughts, and hinting breath,

"Flaky, have you been drinking?" Her sobbing stopped at his question and she sniffled, wiping away the wet trails on her face with the long sleeve of her brown jumper.

"I don't re...recall drinking anything but fruit punch. Why?" Her voice was soft and tiresome. Flippy looked at Flaky in her intoxicated state and saw an imbalance of some sort, 'Flaky would never drink around Lammy, let alone a house full of guests.' He mentally stated. Then another idea popped into thought.

"Do you remember who poured your last drink?" The light green bear's voice was heavy with concern. Flaky lazily fiddled the hems of her sleeves between her slim fingers as she attempted to recollect her thoughts from before the candles and the cake. It was then when she remembered standing in the kitchen with her best friend Petunia, blissfully talking about the outcome of the party, and how well they had planned it. She then remembered that dirty, smooth-talking bear handing them both a drink of punch. Disco Bear licked his lips and winked at the two ladies before him, and with an inappropriate gesture to his voice he attempted any means of a conversation, but was eventually etched away by their unwelcoming glares.

"D-Disco Bear..." The red furred female finally admitted with a look that twisted into disgust, and she tried ignoring the nauseating feeling at the pit of her stomach. Hearing his name was enough to spark a flare of hatred inside of Flippy.

The unimpressed bear left to find the rather impolite bear after telling Flaky to wait where she was. He had placed his plate of half-eaten cake on the coffee table and stormed out of the room in desperate want to tear off Disco's most beloved asset and shove it down his throat for even trying to take advantage of Flaky. The door of the dining room slammed against the wall under Flippy's enraged push, startling the other animal's in the room. At first glance, they were almost convinced that Flippy had flipped-out for whatever reason (though he certainly felt as though he would if his blood were to boil any hotter with anger) but as their was no hungry golden glint in his eyes, nor was there a bowie-knife clenched in his fist, the Tree Friends eased.

Well, apart from Disco Bear, who had noticed that the green bear's harsh, cold, spiteful eyes were fixated on him, and only him, "Hey! Uh, what's goin' on Flippy, my man...?"

**...~x~X~x...**

_**Pardon my dumb cliff-hanger, but more will be shown in the next chapter! I'm also sorry if this is quite short, it was pretty late last night when I wrote this.  
Please let me know what you think guys, read and review! Critiques are welcome with open arms because I want to make this story a great one!**_

_**~Loli x**_


	2. Purposeful Accidents

**_Hello againnn! I'm so happy to finally be in the spirit of writing. So here you have chapter 2 of Apocalypse!_**

Also, thanks for your review, Vanellope HTF! You're review was helpful with my motivation c:  


**_Anyways, enjoy!_**

_Chapter 2: Purposeful Accidents._

Disco Bear never dared to question or try to reason with the war vet, and allowed Flippy to drag him out of the dining room by the oversized collar of his orange silk shirt. Flippy scrunched his nose in disgust as the overpowering stench of alcohol emitted from the bear behind him._ 'What the hell is this arrogant prick doing at a young girl's birthday party anyway?'_ Flippy quizzed to himself after opening the front door to Flaky's house. Somewhat aware of what was going on in his sticky situation, the drunken Disco Bear sloppily raised both hands in the air as if to warn Flippy off. So the green bear jerked his hand away from Disco's collar, and then watched with a roll of his eyes as he sheepishly stumbled through the door on his way out.

"Don't you bother coming back here Disco Bear," Flippy started, he then looked back over his shoulder to check that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. Seeing no one Flippy looked back with a threatening scowl and spoke through grit teeth, "because if you do, I won't even need to be under the influence of Evil to rip your throat out." Slam. Disco Bear took the harsh closing of the door his cue to leave. He wasn't in the mood for dying after a whole day of survival, and he certainly didn't want to get murdered either.

To assure his words had gone through his thick skull, Flippy peaked through the spy hole of the door and watched. Disco Bear stood swaying for a few seconds, then turned with a shrug of his shoulders to zigzag his way home.

The buzz of the party had slowly come to and end as the guests had become tired and full from the greedy amounts of party food they had eaten. So as some left for home, others stayed to help clean around the mess of the party; Petunia, with insisted help from Lammy, took care of washing the pots, cups and cutlery in the kitchen. Nutty went around the table to help clean up the mess of food with Shifty and Lifty, but instead, found himself wolfing down any sugary left over he could get his mitts on – no matter what state it was in. Shifty cringed as the sugar-blooded squirrel reached for, what looks like, a chewed up piece of fudge that had been spat out into a napkin. The younger twin slapped Nutty's hand away and pushed him aside to sweep the sweet into the small bin.

"Hey, Nut-job, if you feel the need to eat everythin' you see at the table then go find somethin' better to do." Lifty muttered. Nutty frowned and dumped the cleaning bleach and sponge into the hands of Shifty as he stormed his way out, "Have fun cleaning this mess on your own then, fellas!"

The sweet tranquillity of Flaky's house was suddenly shaken as the clumsy drop of a plate shattered against the floor. Lumpy stared down bewildered at the pot shards in front of him, "Whoops..." he mumbled, scratching the side of his head as several pairs of unimpressed eyes glared daggers at him. Flippy was the first and only to simply tell him to leave, and Lumpy did. Someone as brain-dead as Lumpy was only going to cause an even bigger mess.

After 20 minutes of cleaning and tidying, Flaky's house was back in its tip-top condition. The time was now ten at night, and the remaining tree friends were saying their goodbyes. Petunia was gradually feeling the effects of the alcoholic-spiked punch she'd had earlier, and she now had to support herself up using the counters in the kitchen. Why she and Flaky decided to drink the punch in the first place was beyond her. The blue furred skunk left the kitchen in search for Handy to drive her home; walking all the way home intoxicated was the worst possible thing to do at this time of the night.

"That damned bear's gonna get what comin' to him if I find him near Petunia again!" Handy raged after listening to Petunia's slurred explanation over the drinks. Petunia had her arm linked around his nubby arm for support with her poor walking as they left the house to get into Handy's truck. Flippy waved them off as they drove away, then quietly shut the door behind him. The house was peaceful, and the late atmosphere hung heavily in the air.

"Mister Flippy?" a small voice racked his train of thought as he was soaking in the silence. He looked down at Lammy in her tiring state and smiled, "Flaky isn't waking up." She then added with a sad look. Flippy could have cursed out loud as he though about Disco Bear once more, but for the sake of Lammy's young ears he suppressed it for some other time.

The green bear ruffled the white curls of her head, "Don't worry about her Lammy, she's very tired. You've had a big day, so you should get some sleep. I'll take care of Flaky." After he kindly spoke, the lilac lamb did as implied. She gave the tall bear a big hug, taking him by surprise, and then rushed up the stares to her room, "Goodnight, Flippy!"

_'Lammy wasn't kidding when she said Flaky wasn't waking up.'_ Flippy thought to himself as he'd found her in the living room. The sleeping porcupine was curled up on her couch emitting the smallest of snores as she breathed. A content smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her sleep; there was no doubt that all of the planning had drained every last ounce of her energy, so waking her up from something her body yearned for was out of the question. Gently, he crouched beside the couch where she slumbered and slid his hands under her small form. He then slowly lifted her by her legs and back from the couch and whispered, "Let's get you to bed, Flakes."

Placing her down on her bed, Flaky stirred in her sleep and shifted into a more comfortable position. Flippy then pulled the covers of her bed over her body. He never knew Flaky was such a heavy sleeper, considering her paranoia...but on second thought, she has had a drink that was rudely spiked. When finally noticing that he was staring at Flaky, Flippy's face flushed a shade of pink, _'She's so pretty, and she doesn't even know it.'_ The veteran mentally stated, a look of adoration painting his features. Before leaving to head home, he took her hand in his and planted a soft kiss on her knuckles, "Sweet dreams, Flaky."

**...~x~X~x~...**

Buckling up in his truck, Flippy finally released a sigh of exhaustion that had built up inside him. He couldn't wait to get home and just sleep the night away. His bloodthirsty counterpart had made no appearance today, and it brought a smile to his face; Flippy had never felt so refreshed. There was a muffled noise of vibration from the compartment in the front of the passenger side. Flippy frowned in confusion, wondering who would be calling at such a late hour.

He answered the call nonetheless, "Hello?"

"Flippy? Oh thank _God_, I've been calling you for hours!" the voice on the other line sounded panicked, but Flippy recognized the voice,

"Sniffles? What's wrong?"

"Uh, well I can't really explain it all over the phone, I need you to-"

"If you're going to ask me to come over, I'm sorry but I'd have to say no. I'm tired, it's been a long day and I-"

"Look, Flippy, I'm not asking a lot from you, I just need to discuss something..._important_. I'll explain the rest when you get here." Then with that, the line went dead.

Flippy closed his eyes and sighed. Of all the times to call him, he chose now. Of course, Flippy was always happy to help the anteater with his work and inventions, but sometimes he asks for the help at the worst times. By worst, the scenario ended with Sniffles slaughtered by the hands of Evil; the blue male had called for Flippy's help only to hear the voice of Evil.

Sadly pushing the thought of sleep aside, Flippy started up the engine of his truck and drove off towards Sniffle's laboratory. Sniffles answered the door to Flippy before the bear could even knock or ring a doorbell, and he was then dragged into his lab after skipping any means of a conversation. They both stepped into the large basement of the lab, and the air was murky and thick with dust and the stench of dilapidation. Flippy remembered this room from once before, but until now he had forgotten all about it. It was mostly littered with paper; pinned to the walls, sprawled around the top of the working desk at the front of the room, and taking up most of the space on the floor. The green bear could have easily thought that the anteater had lost the plot, but figured it was best to shun away his judgement.

"What exactly did you bring me down here for, Sniffles?" Flippy questioned, looking back at Sniffles. He noticed his appearance; Sniffles' eyes were outlined by dark shades of purple, and his face and limbs looked thinner than usual. 'What on earth has he been doing down here?'

"Now don't laugh, or pull a face at me when I tell you this,"

"I'm listening."

"The world's going to end...in a matter of days, according to my studies."

Acknowledgement of Sniffles' words had twisted Flippy's face into amusement, and he laughed it off like it was nothing, "No hard feelings, Sniffles, but I though you dragged me down here for something important. Now tell me what it is." His tone was serious now, and any amusement was quickly wiped away by impatience and grouchiness.

"This is serious!" Sniffles exclaimed, "I have a telescope, and I've seen something horrible getting closer and closer to us. Don't believe me? Look for yourself." Sniffles pointed towards the said telescope over by the hole through the ceiling. Further examination lead to see that the telescope was perfectly fixed into a slanted hole that leads outside beside the house. Curiously, Flippy pressed his right eye against the looking-glass of the device. His brows furrowed in annoyance, "I'm not seeing anything but stars here, genius."

Sniffles huffed in stress at his sarcasm, "Try adjusting the zoom."

Ignoring the itching feeling that he would have been fast asleep by now if it wasn't for this anteater's insecurities, Flippy fiddled with the zoom of the scope until his eye could come across anything interesting. It took a minute or two to get the right position, but when it was finally acquired, the sight was horrifying. Shaken, Flippy stepped back from the telescope and looked straight towards Sniffles with a look of pure disbelief.

Sniffles folded his arms in a coy manner as he took in Flippy's expression, "Now do you believe me, genius?" Flippy's shock choked his words, so he no reply managed to come out. Sniffles gestured for the bear the follow him back upstairs, "Come on. I'll make us both a drink and I'll explain everything.

**...~x~X~x~...**

The dreadful, yet intriguing explanation from Sniffles about his past week of studying, researching, and endlessly working was long. Flippy didn't know what to say to the given information; what he saw through the telescope was a deadly meteor shower and as far as Sniffles was concerned, it was now too close to earth to be stopped. Splendid and Splendont wouldn't even have the strength and the time to destroy them, or at least push them off track from earth's direction, because there was a large number of them...and they were_ gigantic!_

Sniffles took their two empty mugs and dumped them into the sink to wash later. The thoughts of the meteors striking played through Flippy's head; he was hoping and praying that whatever Sniffles' intentions were for this machine of his will work – saving their lives.

"What should I do to help with all of this?" Flippy asked Sniffles as he seated himself once more. Sniffles ran a hand through his short hair to push the stray bangs from his eyes, "I want you to round-up everyone tomorrow and bring them back here. I'm asking you because, just like before, they won't take me seriously. But you might just get it through to them." Flippy felt a little guilty from before – he'd laughed in Sniffles' face. So he respectfully nodded at his request before standing from his seat to leave.

"I'll make sure to get everyone I can. We'll be here before you know it." With that certainty kept in mind, Flippy exited Sniffles' lab to finally make his way home.

Sniffles' was someone Flippy knew he could rely on. Undoubtedly, the anteater's intelligence was above everybody else's, and no one questioned the fact either. The journey home was tense and nauseating for Flippy; he felt like those meteorites could come plowing down on their town within a matter of seconds. But when he finally got comfortable in his bed, the straining and stress cleared started to clear from his mind, and his muscles relaxed. It didn't take long for him to drift off for the night.

**_Review please guys! I want to know what you think about the idea so far.  
_**

**_~Loli! x_**


	3. White Noise

**_Hello again! It's so early in the morning and my mum's probably about to wake up to her alarm...I haven't slept! :c_**

**_Ah well. I had fun writing this even though I feel sleepy as hell, so I'm sorry if it actually sucks. It also might seem a bit choppy because I'm trying to get to the point already so it's not so slow._**

**_Enjoy!_**

_Chapter 3: White Noise_

The following morning came as a haze for the most of the Tree Friends. It was going to be like every typical, groggy morning; some will awake early to make the most out of the early hours, and others will sleep in to make the most of their warms beds. On the other hand, tired or not, the swarming thoughts of a deadly meteor shower left two particular Tree Friends wide-eyed and alert that morning. Today was going to be tough, indeed.

Despite waking to find it was only four in the morning, Flippy couldn't bring himself to drift back to sleep again for a few more hours. His mind was plagued with visions of what he'd seen through Sniffles' telescope. They were flaring with red hot heat, and from afar they would simply look like miniscule orbs of light...until they were dangerously close enough to cause widespread havoc.

The digital clock flicked with each passing minutes, and it had took Flippy a while to gather his thoughts up to make a move out of bed. The curtains were flung to their sides, but the velvet blue sky of the early morning didn't help to bring much light into the bear's room. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stumbled for his bathroom; a shower would surely help to shake him from lethargy, but not stress. Flippy turned the knob of the shower handle until the temperature was lukewarm, and then stripped from any clothing he'd lazily left on from last night. As he was rinsed under the warm falling water Flippy felt relaxed, and almost hesitant to leave his shower.

He didn't want to die. Yet he wasn't afraid of dying. He'd stared into the face of death for most of his life, and brought others to their endless cycle of death. But to die under a shower of meteors was something different and that's what shook Flippy the most. This could be permanent – _no revival or re-spawning_ – so the pain of death wouldn't be a major worry, it would be the striking realisation that they may never see each other again.

An hour had almost passed before Flippy was ready to leave. He was hesitant and pondered around his house wandering if he should risk leaving his fallen log. Flippy hated to admit it, but he knew for a fact that he was paranoid. _'Is this really how Flaky feels all the time...?'_ he thought to himself, his brows furrowed at the thought of Flaky having to go through such a heavy and frightful situation.

Before finally urging to leave, the green bear packed a rucksack full of water bottles and several other supplements. There was no telling what was going to happen as Sniffles', but bringing a few necessary supplies seemed like the right thing to do. Flippy stopped before stepping out his front do as a silver glint caught his eye. Then without hesitation, Flippy clipped his trusty bowie knife to the belt of his pants; walking outdoors with the weight of the life-or-death situation on his shoulders felt utterly wrong without his blade.

"Now, who should I go to first...?" he asked out loud as he slumped into his truck. The question in itself was a silly one to ask, as the answer was plain and simple, "...Flaky."

**...~x~X~x~...**

"Flaky...Flaky! Flaky, wake up!" Lammy loudly whispered in frustration, pattering and poking Flaky in desperation to get a stir from her. The porcupine was well away, but the lamb was too afraid to see who was endlessly knocking at their door at such an early hour, "Flaky! There's someone at the door!" Lammy was now vigorously shaking Flaky by the side for a response.

"Wha...What's wrong, Lammy?"

Lammy sighed with relief before explaining, "There's someone knocking at our door, but I don't want to go downstairs on my own and look." Flaky blinked her heavy-lidded eyes open and waited for them to adjust to the dark. Lammy was rapped in her white robe, clutching her favoured stuffed pickle plushie. The young lamb stifled a yawn.

"Alright, Lammy, go back to your room. I'll go and see who it is." Flaky softly mumbled. She pulled the covers aside and reached for her night gown. Lammy tip-toed back to her room as Flaky silently stepped downstairs towards the front door. The clicking and jingling sound of keys were heard as she fiddled to find the right one to unlock her door, because whoever was knocking so harshly had stopped.

Flaky's face twisted in confusion to find Flippy stood eager and stark, "Flippy? What are you doing here so late?" the veteran didn't bother to ask his permission to come in, as he quickly stepped in and closed the door behind him. Flaky's tired state was replaced by worry; seeing Flippy look so unsettled was enough for Flaky, "What's going on, Flippy?"

"I don't have time to explain, but I need you and Lammy to get dressed and pack some food and water...and maybe one small thing you'd like to keep with you. We all need to get to Sniffles' lab as soon as possible."

"But, why?"

"Please, Flaky," Flippy clutched the sides of Flaky's arms, surprising her, "We don't have time to waste, so please just trust me. I'll wait right here for both of you."

Ignoring the swarm of emotions that forced their way through to show, Flaky nodded and made her way back upstairs. So many questions and assumptions popped up into though, but she shoved them aside for the right time. Whatever has stricken the soldier would easily do the same to Flaky, so she did as he said and hurried. Lammy was very curious, and almost persistent when Flaky had instructed her to get ready for the day, but seeing as though Flaky was already dressed she did the same.

"Mister Flippy!" Lammy's face lightened as she noticed the green bear stood patiently downstairs. For her sake, he put on an emotion that was hard to even feel at this point in time, "Hey there, little lamb," Flippy pat his hand over her bed-headed hair and forced a calm expression and smile, "Why don't you go wait in my truck whilst I help Flaky pack a few things. I left a few sweets there for you!" The tempting sound of sweets made it easy for Lammy to do as complied, and she was out of the door in an instant.

The porcupine's paranoid expression was easy for Flippy to read as she went in and out of different cupboards for supplies, and the bear felt a sting of guilt shoot a hole through his chest. So he halted her before she could make a move for the front door, his hand clutching her wrist. A hug from Flippy was some Flaky would never have expected from such a hardy bear, but not returning the gesture didn't feel right, so she timidly slid her arms over his shoulders as he buried his face in her mess of quills. What he then whispered was quietly muffled, but with it being spoken so close to her ear made it clear for Flaky to understand,

_"I'm scared, Flaky."_

**...~x~X~x~...**

By the time the sun was dawning along with its brilliant shades of colours, the air became thicker with humidity, as well as tension. Flippy had gathered everyone he could find and sway to trust his words, and they were now on their way towards Sniffles' laboratory. Those with cars offered to drive others with none. Some of the Tree Friends showed nothing but arrogance when they were told what to do so early in the morning, but those who trusted in Flippy's obvious concern did what they could to push them into making a move. When it was down to getting to the racoon twins, it had took a lot of sugar-coated reassurance for Splendid and Flippy to believe that the thieves can be trusted, and were worthy of tagging along with them. But no matter how many times they've repeatedly thieved, Flippy soon realised that it was their lives he was risking by fussing over trust. Thus, he had swallowed his frustration and instructed them to sit in the back of his truck with Lammy, no matter how horrible the decision seemed.

"Well, here we are." Flippy stated as his car's engine died down to a halt. Shifty and Lifty were quick to step out of the truck – anything to avoid the presence of Flippy.

Everyone was awfully silent as they gathered to enter Sniffles' lab. A lot of questions were floating around the Tree Friends, and most of them were to be spilled all over the blue anteater even if Flippy made it clear not to do such a thing. The green bear suspected that Sniffles was in his basement, so he led the rest down the twisting flocks of stairs. Unlucky for Flippy, Handy was close behind him, and boy did he have an earful for Flippy.

The orange furred male shuffled in his steps to walk beside him, "You know by now that I have the utmost respect for you, Flippy, but this whole thing is unbelievable," He then looked back to ensure that Petunia wasn't close by before continuing his hushed rambles, "do you know how angry Petunia gets when she doesn't get her preferred amount of hours to sleep? Do you wanna know who she took that anger out on? _Me!_ And it was _you_ that woke us up!"

Flippy rolled his eyes and paid no attention to Handy at that moment. He desperately wanted to get it through to him that he was probably saving their lives by waking them up so early, but figured he'd let Sniffles do all of the talking for him. They eventually reached the basement, which they believed was the final floor of Sniffles' lab until they spotted the large dug hole in the ground. They noticed light blue anteater as he was dragging a large brown sack beside the hole, and he was oblivious to the large group of his friends stood behind him until Flippy cleared his throat, "We're here Sniffles."

His head shot around at an instant, "It's about time you all got here! We're running out of time by the minute, you know!" Flippy felt his pulse in his ears as it quickened with fear, "What do you mean? You said it was only a matter of days!"

"I know I did, but there's this little thing called gravity, soldier, and it's pulling those things closer to us much, much faster!" Sniffles' sarcasm had never been heard by the majority of the Tree Friends, so it was surprising...but mostly unsettling.

"Will someone **PLEASE** tell us what's going on now?! What_ 'things'_ are getting closer Sniffles? We all want answers." Cuddles chimed in. The anteater would've retorted back out of agitation, but simply adjusted his glasses and wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, "I'm terribly sorry that this is all so sudden everyone, but I had no choice but to get you all here as soon as possible. I'd spent over three weeks in my lab researching and working ever since I found something...horrifying on my telescope,"

"So, what, four-eyes? Get to the point already!" Shifty impatiently blurted, receiving a sharp glare from Flippy. Sniffles blanked out his rude insult and continued, "Alright, to put it simple for you all: a meteor shower is heading straight for us. So I spent those sleepless weeks working to make a new machine that might just save us all. Does anyone else have anything smart to say or can we get on with the procedure now?" everyone was silent, yet a few were just hushed to hold back their words of annoyance and blind hate.

The anteater opened the large brown sack and rummaged through. The inside of it was dusty and emitted an old musky smell. Curiosity had gotten to the others, but none asked what the sack contained. After rummaging on his knees, Sniffles stood up with a gas mask in one hand and a long brown trench coat in the other hand. This caught the attention of the Tree Friends, though Flippy was already aware of his plans after Sniffles had explained them personally to him, so he stepped forward and took the two pieces of clothing from his hands before putting them on.

"Before going underground I want you all to put these on for your safety, of course." Sniffles reached back into the brown sack to take out his gas mask and trench coat before proceeding to hand out the others to them. They each stepped forward one by one to claim their own, up until Petunia took one look and sniff at the two items and grimaced with disgust, "I cannot wear those things sniffles." The light blue furred male looked at the mask and coat for a brief moment before looking back at the skunk. Then it hit him.

"Oh, that's right, I almost forgot about your uh, OCD. I bought a new gas mask and trench coat for you after I found the older ones." Petunia then watched with relief as Sniffles pulled out two cleaner looking items for her, "Thanks Sniffles."

Geared up and somewhat ready to venture underneath Sniffles' lab, the Tree Friends followed closely behind Sniffles and Flippy, their torches lighting their way through the glum darkness of the artificial cave. The situation on a whole was still hard to comprehend for most; a meteor shower was about to kill them, or so they were told; rather abruptly after being gathered like cattle by Flippy. Whatever was at the pit of this cave will likely answer their unanswered questions.

Minutes later, the humming sound of a running machine was heard further down the walkway of the cave, and as they got closer the light from the pit of the cave was in sight. A blue glow overpowered the many lanterns and lamps that were scattered around. As they entered, the blue glow was found to have been coming from Sniffles' machine. It was large, and took up the majority of the right side of the cave. The green flickering light indicated that the machine was stable and secure. There were several thick wires collectively gathered together that trailed out from the cave back towards Sniffles' lab. Though the only intriguing thing about the machine was its source of power; a glowing blue crystal. Upon further inspection from Splendid, it was easily recognised as Kyryptonut. But how is that possible?

"Sniffles, if I'm not mistaken that blue crystal is Kryptonut, am I right?" The blue winged squirrel asked. Sniffles nodded, "It is, but reduced down to a much weaker form, so you won't feel the effects of it," as Sniffles began to explain to the others more detail on the machine's properties and functions, as well as the meteor shower itself, the two kleptomaniac twins were struggling to draw their eyes away from the glistening gem.

Despite their full awareness that this crystal was practically the machines function in form, they gave in to temptation together and slowly but casually slipped away from the crowd as they wandered to the other side of the room with Sniffles. The two racoons grinned like a pair of Cheshire cats behind their gas masks as they shuffled closer and closer the weak Kyrptonut. They new how much this stuff was worth, and the very thought of the money they would have with one tiny exchange of this crystal was enough for them to give in to their deadly temptations. Beautifully blaring colours of blue, the crystal rested in a metal grasp behind a glass window of the machine, urging them to reach in there and snatch it.

Sniffles looked down at his wrist watch at it beeped. It was time. Everyone knew what that small beeping meant and immediately felt the air thicken with grief and a bit of hope. It wasn't long before they all noticed that the group had gotten smaller; by two people more precisely. The same thought skimmed over all of them, 'The twins'. Just like that, Flippy regretted bringing them along with the group.

The light of the room suddenly flickered. Then the floor rumbled and pulsed. It was happening.

Lifty's eyes widened as soon as the vibrations of the floor shook the cave. Loose specs of dirt and dust trailed from the ceiling with each pulse that wracked the cave. The younger twin looked at his brother as he successfully opened the glass window to the Kyrptonut, "Shifty, wait!" He partially raised the mask over his face so that his whispers weren't so muffled, "We shouldn't do this, I think that anteater's actually right about this whole thing, y'know?"

Shifty looked over at Lifty with a bemused expression, "Seriously, Lifty? When on earth have I ever gave a fuck about that anteater anyways? There's no damn meteor shower, for fu-"

"Shifty! Don't even think about it!" Sniffles voice erupted from behind them. Then another thud struck them all. Shifty almost yanked the gem with him as he stumbled backwards with the moving ground, but Lifty shoved his hand away, "Stop it, Shifty! You don't know what might happen!"

The older racoon's glaring gaze swapped from his brother, then to the rest behind them, then at the gem, then finally back to his brother, "You shouldn't get in my way, Lifty." Then without a warning, Shifty roughly shoved Lifty behind him towards the others before reaching for the weakened Kryptonut once again. Flippy managed to stand when he found the chance to, right before another pulse tore underneath the cave. More and more dust and rocks were falling from the brittle ceiling. The angered bear could almost feel Evil overtaking his thoughts, but he was simply blinded by adrenaline and rage. The moment the ground stopped shaking was his chance to charge for the thieving racoon who had both his hands around the crystal.

Shifty's pulling and tugging wasn't helping to nudge the blue gem from its position, and he was harshly knocked from his straining as Flippy swung his fist around the side of his head. What Flippy didn't notice was his grip on the crystal, which was now clutched in his hands as he unconsciously slumped to the ground.

The light from the crystal began to brighten until it was almost blinding, and the machine began to spark and smoke as it slowly started to produce dangerous sounds from a lack of stability. Sniffles didn't know what to do or say as everyone swarmed around him in a fit of hysterical panic. Flippy snatched the Kryptonut from Shifty's loose grip and tried his best to place it back into the machine again, but to no avail.

Over the fuzzy blur of the commotion between everyone in the cave, no one seemed to notice the last empowering vibration that shook the entire cave. The machine and the crystal flashed before Flippy's eyes and he recoiled; dropping the Kryptonut.

It was at the same moment that one flash of light filled the remains of the cave, as much larger chunks of rocks began to tumble from the forming cracks in the ceiling. The machine, having no stability without the crystal, uncontrollably shot out white beams of light in all directions of the room. The cave collapsed under the heavy pressure of a meteorite.

White noise filled the ears of the blinded Tree Friends.

**_Yay for sucky cliffhangers! x3_**

**_I tried to throw in a bit of action in my writing, but I need to work on it a little more I think.  
_**

**_But anyways, let me know what you think!_**

**_-Loli!_**


	4. Awake

**A.N: Hey guys, sorry for a late update, I've been away from home a lot so I've not had a lot of time to write. I have had a lot of time to conjure ideas though! And so far I've got a few bubbling, I just need to see how things turn out.**

**So here's chapter 4!**

Chapter 4: Awake

_"...All our lives we sweat and save _

_Building for a shallow grave _

_Must be something else we say _

_Somehow to defend this place _

_Everything must be this way _

_Everything must be this way..."_

Shock was a very strong understatement, and the word pain could hardly come close to comparing against what tormented the Tree Friends as the cave shook and crumbled until it gave way under the weight of a meteorite. Demise was a certainty for sure. Sniffles' machine was corrupted and destroyed by the petty selfishness of the kleptomaniac twins...right?

So why was he still breathing? Blinking? _Feeling_...?

The air was different as his slow and steady breathing continued. His vision was cracked, but each shard held a dull colour of blue, and few specs of white. Sniffles could only blankly stare through his broken vision; his thoughts were distanced, and he had yet to gather them, or even feel the need to move his still limbs. A sudden voice struck his ears, but still not a twitch of a muscle stirred him.

"Sniff's, man! Get up and get soldier boy off my tail before he kills me! Hellooo?!" A patter of footsteps and heavy panting were heard getting closer to where Sniffles lay. Then all it took was a vigorous shake from Shifty before the anteater was snapped from his numb trance, "Wha-..._Shifty?_ Alright, okay! Stop shaking me!" He groggily slapped his hands away, "What are you squawking about?"

Sniffles flinched as the racoon leaped over him and scurried of, releasing shrieks and apologetic cries. Not long after Shifty dived over Sniffles, Flippy dived over him too, and the situation was now obvious. The green bear's face was painted red with vengeance as he hacked and slashed his knife through the air in an attempt to slice the zigzagging racoon. For a moment, Sniffles was careless to Flippy's actions; he would re-spawn as good as new tomorrow after all, won't he?

"Wait a minute..." It hit him, at last. Sniffles took off his useless, shattered glasses and took in the new surroundings. '_This isn't right. This isn't the cave...'_ Despite his slightly blurred vision, Sniffles could make out the environment of the area; it was just bare land, if not for the rusty debris of unrecognizable materials. The ground was dusty and cracked - grass and other odd-looking plants were spurting through these cracks. He looked around to inspect further. There was nothing. No houses, buildings, people. Nothing that resembled they were in their Happy Tree hometown.

This meant that they were no longer in its curse, "Flippy! Don't you dare lay a finger on him!" Sniffles barked out in a panic. The last thing he wanted was the permanent death of someone in an unknown place. Flippy paused at Sniffles' sudden call, and took one last threatening look at the racoon in his strangling grasp before shoving him to the ground, "Be thankful Sniffles is here, or you wouldn't even have a throat."

Sniffles stood up from the ground and patted away the dust from his lab coat. He continued to questionably gaze and gawk at his surroundings, trying to figure out how the previous events in the cave could have brought them to such a place. All the while, Flippy stood beside him, arms folded, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Hey, uh, what is this place Sniffles?"

"I don't know yet, Flippy. But at least we aren't dead." Sniffles' eyes darted around the ground until he spotted their gas masks scattered, "Hm…something in that cave definitely brought us here…it must have been the machine, but how?" the anteater pondered as he strained himself to recollect his previous memories. But all thoughts were still misted by his pulsing headache.

"Well, if it helps, I found this in that bastard's hands when he was still passed out." Flippy chimed in, he then sent a grimacing expression in Shifty's direction. Looking closer, Flippy took a deeper notice to the blue gem in his own clenched hand. The same blue gem that was functioning their only means of protection; their practical life support in such dire straights.

Sniffles, upon inspecting the crystal with further detail, was soon hit hard by the sudden rush of remembrance, and in a burst of rage he snatched the the Kryptonut from Flippy's hands and stormed over to the guilty racoon.

All it took for Shifty to skulk away was a small glance at the ghastly glare on the approaching anteater's face, "Woah now, Sniff's, don't be doin' anythin' rash, I ain't done nothin'!" Sniffles then retorted in a sarcastic-coated tone of annoyance, "Is that so? Then explain to me why this Kryptonut was in your hands when Flippy found you passed out?! And stop calling me 'Sniff's' you damned moron!"

_'...And he wondered why I was about to pry him by his neck.'_ Flippy thought to himself as he stood aside and watched as Sniffles mercilessly waved the blue gem in Shifty's cowering face. He rolled his eyes and sighed to himself.

Flippy was quick to notice the change of the atmosphere and had woke up with a...strangely clear conscience. Despite his fuzzy, pulsing head sore, Flippy felt as though his thoughts were no longer shrouded in darkness. Something was missing.

"Sniffles?"

Sniffles halted from launching the Kryptonut in Shifty's face, "What do you want?" Despite the scowl on the anteater's face, Flippy ignored it, "I need you to test something for me. It's Evil. I want you to try and bring him out."

"What are you _nuts_? If you trigger that lunatic me and Sniff's- I mean Sniffles - will both be dead!" Shifty intervened after scooping his misplaced fedora from the ground. Flippy took Shifty's words to consideration, but although he was right, Flippy was ever so anxious to find out why he felt like he was thinking and feeling as one again.

Sniffles would've agreed with Shifty for a moment, but his trust in the bear blinded his belief that Flippy had, in fact, lost his sense in security and safety.

"Very well then. But if he does actually show himself, and he kills us, we won't be alive tomorrow." Sniffles informed over Shifty's hysterical fits of disagreement.

"Have you both gone batshit crazy?! What the fuck do you expect to get from letting him out Flippy?!" Flippy and Sniffles ignored Shifty as they proceeded to think of a possible trigger, "...Fine! But this is also your life on the line Sniffles, think about that before you-"

**_SMASH._**

The drop of an old glass bottle silenced the racoon as it shattered. His large tail stiffened as a mix of suspense and fear dwelled within him. Shifty tugged his hat over his eyes; the sickening terror of what was to happen next was unbearable. Yet nothing happened. There was no heavy breathing from Flippy as Evil forced his way out, and no shrill cries of pain from Sniffles as he was brutally murdered. Didn't the shattering glass bring out Flippy's alter ego after all?

Sniffles gaped in bewilderment as Flippy's eyes opened to reveal their usual shade of emerald. No golden glint. Just emerald. Not even a ferocious snarl revealing it's daggers. Instead, Flippy smiled brightly out of relief and amazement. Evil really was gone!

Looking down at the glass shards on the floor, Flippy felt the emptiness inside of him much more boldly, and he finally felt the fact that there was no more Evil sink in. How this happened was yet to be learned, but for now, Flippy was just happy that he wasn't about to ruthlessly slaughter Sniffles and Shifty. Well, Sniffles more than Shifty.

**...~x~X~x~...**

Lammy's frustration and impatience grew and grew as her foster mother wouldn't wake under her shaking and nudging and calling. She could here footsteps coming from the opposite side of the old wooden door, but Lammy never answered to the door without Flaky. With her little heart racing in her chest, Lammy sat back and froze in silence, awaiting to hear another noise from the door again. The rusted handle shook from the other side, erupting a small jump from the young lamb. Her hands found Flaky once again as she continued to try waking her up, but her paranoid instincts had her eyes glued to the door.

"P-Please wake up, Flaky, I'm scared." Lammy shakily whispered. But her frail attempts at stirring her from unconsciousness were useless, "Flaky, someone's at the door."

Eventually, Flaky's eyes began to flutter open. She was slow to come to her senses, but when she did, Lammy's worried gaze was the first thing she saw, "What's wrong, Lammy?" The porcupine's head pulsed in slight pain, but her concerns for Lammy were stronger.

An abrupt series of knocks on the door at the end of the room made it clear for Flaky to see Lammy's worries. However, Flaky wasn't just worried about an unknown being at the door, she was far more worried about their unknown surroundings. The room they were in; it was old, dusty, and very unfamiliar to Flaky. The remains of the mud-glazed broken windows allowed the daylight of the outside to shine into the dark room, dimly lighting up the few contents inside; a simple wooden chair, a bed and a door-less closet, and each was coated in thick layers of dust and ceiling chippings. 'I wonder how long this place has been abandoned?' Flaky mused to herself.

The knocking struck their ears again, but this time there was a voice to follow it, "Hello? Is there anyone in there? I can here movement."

Flaky and Lammy both shared the same look of sureness before rushing over to the door, "Petunia? Is that you?" Flaky quizzed as she attempted to twist the door handle. "Yes, oh my god, Flaky you have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice. Is Lammy there too?"

"Yeah, I'm here Petunia!" Lammy chimed in with a large grin. Flaky smiled too, but the stiff handle of the door was quick to demolish her sudden overjoyed buzz, "Petunia this door isn't opening!" She panicked.

Petunia had attempted herself, as the handle jiggled on its own from Flaky's side, "I think it's...locked? But I don't even see a keyhole for this door." Flaky sighed in frustration, and Lammy clung to Flaky's jumper as the two struggled to open the door. Eventually, they gave in to the obvious fact that the door must have been busted long ago.

Petunia instructed Flaky and Lammy to scan the room they were in, "Do you see any other way out?" She asked. Lammy pointed to a small hole in the wall. Flaky praised Lammy and patted her, unfortunately, damp matted curls. The porcupine then realised that it wasn't just Lammy's curls that were damp and dusty, they were practically teaming with specs of dirt from head to toe.

They hastily approached the hole in the walk and crouched to their knees. It took Flaky a few seconds to clear away the few fallen bricks in their way, but were soon able to slowly and carefully crawl their way through. Lammy had passed through first and was now stood in a hallway, patting away the tiny stones and patches of dirt that stuck to her hands and knees. Flaky winced in pain as she had to pick out a small splinter from her palm.

"Flaky! Lammy! There you are, I wondered why you both went so quiet." Petunia called out from the end of the corridor. As she made her way towards the two, Flaky noticed her purely shaken state, "What happened to you?" Flaky curiously asked.

The blue skunk frowned; her gaze quickly drifting down to her dirt-covered fur and clothes in disgust. Waking up in a place infested with the thing that plunged her into insufferable fits of sheer terror was like a living nightmare to Petunia, and it had took her a lot of self-control to remain as calm as she could possibly feel.

"Long story short, I woke up just as confused as you two, and all it took was the pungent smell of this place for me to freak out," Petunia stopped at she cringed. Even the feeling of uncleanliness sent unpleasant chills down her spine, "but then I heard shuffling from this room, and then found out it was you guys."

Flaky smiled and embraced Petunia with a hug. Though Petunia could only cringe at their exchange of dirt and dust, "Do you think that maybe we could, like, save the hugging for when we're cleaner?" Flaky recoiled in realisation and scratched the back of her ear, "S-Sorry, Petunia, I'm just so relieved to see a familiar face in this place..." she paused, her eyes widening, "...wait...how did we get here in the first place?"

"I could ask the same really. I don't have a clue. All I can remember was being in the cave that Sniffles brought us to, but then I blacked out."

Lammy anxiously fiddled with the hem of her fluffy skirt as the two older ladies conversed over their situation. She looked down both sides of the corridor with and upturned frown. This wasn't like any building from their town; it was eerie and decayed, and the floorboards felt weak under the pressure of their weight. For a moment, the lamb felt a small urge to inspect further into the dark of the building. Adventurous at heart, Lammy was well up to exploring the thrill of their mysterious and new area. But the possibilities of danger, death, and the threat of the unknown were hindrances, leaving Lammy unsure but daringly curious.

**...~x~X~x~...**

The building, what they had eventually learned was an old hotel, was eerily tranquil as they trekked through the endless hallways for an exit. There was something about the hotel that seemed awfully queer to the three girls. It wasn't quite abandoned as they'd though; the few rooms they had snooped around in still contained closets and cabinets full of belongings and clothing of the stayers. Upon finding clothes that could replace their worn and torn ones, Flaky removed her ragged brown sweater and tied the new dull-coloured sweater around her waist - it was rather humid in the hotel. Lammy had found a dress, simple but pretty despite the faded colours, the ends of the sleeves and hem of the dress were trimmed with youngish frills, and the collared neckline had a floral print. On the other hand, Petunia decided that she was happy to remain in her own clothes; wearing other people's forgotten apparel wasn't ideally hygienic.

"My feet are hurting Flaky," Lammy quietly whined, "how much more walking do we need to do?" The porcupine reassured the young lamb with a soft squeeze of her hand, "I'm not sure, sweetheart, but as soon as we reach the ground floor we'll be out of this hotel."

Lammy's legs weren't the only ones growing more and more fatigued, as Flaky and Petunia were also beginning to dread the countless amount of stairs and corridors to trek. They soon stumbled upon an elevator, its doors were party open and its light was still flickering green. With their legs and feet tingling from the ache of walking so long, they figured an attempt at using the elevator wouldn't be so bad. Thus Petunia stepped forward and fiddled with the metal buttons.

To their surprise, the functioning sounds of the elevator sounded from above, and within a few seconds it appeared, door-less, in the opening. Seeing that the elevator had no door, and a large hole through its ceiling was a bit of a put-off, but they went with it nonetheless.

They each took a light step into the lift, cautious of it being unstable, and Lammy pushed the ground floor button. The elevator slightly trembled before descending down, causing the three of them to huddle together for a sense of safety. Floor after floor, they could see each corridor through the missing doors - it truly is deserted.

Just when the three girls thought all was going well, the elevator began to struggle and sputter on its way down. "What's happening...?" Flaky said, her grip on the metal rail tightening. Lammy fearfully clung to her side, and Petunia glanced up at their current floor number, "We're on the third floor," the skunk then frowned in agitation, "why does this stupid hunk of metal have to stop working now?!" She jumped and stomped against the floor, and erupted a fretful squeak from Lammy and Flaky.

"Petunia, are you crazy? Hopping like a lunatic won't help it move any lower!" Flaky warned. But Petunia was persistent and continued to do so, "I don't care. I'm not getting stuck in a dirty place like this."

With each pressuring jump, the elevator did manage to slightly edge lower and lower - enough to slightly see the second floor's ceiling. Lammy noticed, then hesitantly started to join in on Petunia's jumping, still clutching the porcupine's hand. Eventually, it had stuck in place and would not move any more, leaving them with a slight gap by their feet that lead to the second floor.

Petunia, slowly caving in under the pressure of her OCD, was the quickest to act, "Alright, I'll jump down first and then catch Lammy, okay Flaky?" Flaky nodded. Petunia sat on her bottom by the door and kicked her legs through the gap before sliding her way out from the elevator. With a loud thud, the skunkette managed to land on her feet, groaning and patting at the back of her jeans when she noticed the dirt patch.

Flaky crouched down to Lammy's height, "Go on, Lammy, Petunia will catch you," she noticed the unsurity in the young lamb's expression and urged her on, "don't worry, sweetheart, I'll be right down after you."

Lammy copied Petunia's actions and sat at the edge before swinging her legs down. Petunia readied in her stance, "Don't be scared, Lammy." With that, Lammy squeezed her eyes shut and allowed herself to drop down, smiling the moment she landed in the arms of Petunia.

"Come on down, Flaky!" Lammy chimed from the second floor. The porcupine smiled before shifting towards the elevator's edge.

Then something stopped her. It had dropped down beside her from the large hole above; the metal material landed with a clank. Nervously but curiously, Flaky picked up the object to inspect it closely. It was too familiar to be mistaken or unknown as she'd seen those dog tags nearly everyday.

A sudden burst of awareness overwhelmed her, and she stumbled to her feet to call out through the hole, "Flippy? Are you up there?"

A hand reached out from the darkness towards her, it was gloved and green, and brought Flaky so much relief. Hastily, Flaky reached her own hand up to grasp his, but the sudden jolt as she was roughly hoisted upwards told her that she wasn't in Flippy's safe hands.

And as those unwelcoming set of golden orbs pierced through the darkness to stare at Flaky's, she knew that she couldn't be more correct.

_"Hello, Flaky."_

_**A.N: Well I hope this didn't suck too bad, it's kinda shorter than I had hoped but I just didn't want to keep you waiting. Let me know what you guys think! And I do apologise if you spot any mistakes.**_

**_~Loli_**


	5. Something's Off

**A.N: Oh LORD, college is a bitch you guys, especially when you're pushed to get two art projects complete. But as I'm up to date with my course work, I found the time to ****_FINALLY _****finish this chapter for you!**

**So without anymore of my whining, please enjoy!**

**Apocalypse: Chapter 5**

In the centre of what appeared to be a large car park, the hopeless screeches of pain never ceased to end from underneath the toppled-over mini-bus. Along with the strained grunts and groans that emitted from the small group of Tree Friends as they attempted to push the vehicle back on its four wheels...to no avail. The blaring heat of the sun left the few struggling animals in a glaze of sweat as they struggled and heaved to help Toothy, and silence his insatiable whimpering at the same time.

Lifty, utterly drained from any existing effort, was the first to remove his helping, yet aching arms from the side of the mini-bus, "That's it, I can't do this any longer!" the raccoon wiped the layer of sweat from his face with his palms, and turned to face the slacking squirrel, "Hey, Splendouche? Are you gonna help us or not?!"

Splendid spared him no glances, and remained perched on top of a nearby car to aimlessly chuck stones as far as he could, "For the thousandth time, Lifty; I CAN'T." With his bothersome mind more focused on his own fatigue, Lifty scratched at his damp fur in annoyance, "What are you whinin' for anyways? You're the one with super strength here, so why not just lift this damned thing off Toothy on your own?"

The blue squirrel let that question pass by him like an insignificant little fly; Splendid certainly wished he had his super strength. Judging by the poor distance he'd made so far between him and the countless thrown rocks, he wasn't going to be hoisting up any vehicles anytime soon. With that disheartening thought in mind, Splendid exhaled a sigh, "I'm weaker than I should be, so I won't make any difference."

The sudden increase of Toothy's cries shook Splendid to his core - ignoring the blatant calls for aid was something that Splendid has never done, and never wanted to, "Fine!"

After jumping down from the rusted car, Splendid and Lifty returned to where Handy, Nutty and Mime were, and quickly proceeded to help lift the weight of the mini-bus from Toothy's trapped leg. It was slowly losing any feeling as a numb sensation tingled from his crushed nerves.

The four men, excluding Handy who pressed his side against the bus, placed their hands on the fallen side of the vehicle before Splendid counted them in to push, "1...2..._3!_"

Within seconds of heaving and straining until their arms began to shake, Toothy was finally relieved from the vehicles weight. But the state of his bruising, bleeding and senseless leg was a threatening sign. Toothy's eyes were outlined by pain-stricken tears, "What the hell am I supposed to do now?!" he groaned through clenched teeth. The rest of the men before him were riddled with clueless expressions; his leg would need treatment, but none of them had a single idea on what to do. That was until a thin metal pole caught Mime's eye.

The mute reached for it and began to motion himself limping, using the pole for support like a crutch. Toothy, though more focused on his pulsing calf, somewhat took in his idea, stumbled his way onto his good leg and used the pole to support himself, "Thanks." he then muttered. The rusty texture of the pole wasn't a pleasant one under his palm, but Toothy was happy that it took his mind off the pain in his leg for now.

The fairly small group stuck together as they aimlessly trekked away from the car park, all giving their surroundings an uneasy and unsure eye. They, of course, had no idea what happened with Sniffles' machine, and what turn of events could have led them to where they are now; alive, and still walking...well, some more than others. Toothy was struggling to limp fast enough to keep up, the rusty pole irritating and itching his hand, "D'you think you could slow down a little, guys? I only have one working leg remember?"

Lifty stuffed his hands in his pockets and smirked, "Why don'tcha ask super squirrel over there to carry ya? Oh wait! He said he can't remember where he put his hero powers!" Lifty's childish sarcasm nagged at Splendid. He went from walking at the back, to walking right beside Lifty at the front, "Would you care to say that again? To my face?"

Lifty opened his mouth to say something, but was quickly cut short by Splendid's sharp-knuckled fist. Handy rolled his eyes, careless to whatever fight the two will get themselves into, and he instructed the rest to keep walking. The stunned raccoon recoiled, clutching his bruising jaw, "What the fuck, man, take a joke!" Splendid's frown hardened along with his clenching fists, but he sighed and pressed his hand against his forehead to ease his stressing headache, "It's not a joke. My powers _are_ gone."

The four in front froze and turned back, interested in their, what they assumed, petty argument. Nutty was the first to comment, and over-exaggerate at that, "Wait...SPLENDID'S LOST HIS POWERS?!"

"Well _nooo_, Lifty wasn't just mocking Splendid about it at all." Handy sarcastically mocked. Toothy's eyes widened as sudden realization hit him, "Ohhhh, so that's why he couldn't lift the mini bus on his own!" On the other hand, Mime was possibly the only one to remain bewildered by the confusing change in their location.

It wasn't the loss of his powers that etched away at his mood, it was the fact that the rest just...didn't seem to care. What if someone was out there calling for him, meeting with whatever fate Splendid could have twisted if only he could hear their call? The very thought made his chest ache with anxiousness, but he pushed it back and straightened his face. The blue-furred male couldn't wait to give Sniffles grief; Splendid was certain that his perfect little invention had something to do with it.

Speaking of which, "I wonder where everybody else is?" Splendid said, glancing around at the strange detail of their environment. Though it was odd, it held some resemblance to what Splendid remembered seeing in Happy Tree Town, but he couldn't specifically pinpoint anything. Acting as though he was never punched in the face, Lifty chimed in, "Good question, but none of us know. Obviously." Splendid rolled his eyes, deciding that it was better to ignore the raccoon's remarks instead of doing anything else rash.

After walking in one direction for what seemed like an hour, they'd stumbled upon the remains of a debris-infested town. It wasn't too small of a town, or too big either - very much like Happy Tree Town...but the thought didn't drift across any of them in their bewilderment. Cars, knocked down traffic lights, and other junk littered the streets and the roads, leaving them to weave in and out of the mess like a maze to get to the other side. A dull, multi-coloured glint of a store sign tore one particularly sugar-hungry Tree Friend from his focus on sticking to the group. Nutty noticed that his lack of sugar was beginning to get to him as his sudden cravings raged from the sight of a candy shop.

Mime, being the only real generous one so far, decided to stick by Toothy's side as he struggled in his limping. Handy, however, was left with the lucky position to walk in between Splendid and Lifty, separating them from any likely outbreaks of fights...or just hissy-fits. It didn't take Mime long to notice that the slight giggling and fidgety noises of Nutty had silenced, and he looked back only to find that he wasn't there at all.

The orange beaver in front shrugged his shoulder forward as Mime tapped it for attention, "What do you want, Mime?" Although he said it, Handy didn't bother looking back at him, leaving the mute with no choice but to pull him back by his nub, "What the-? What?!" Mime gestured his hands around them, and pulled a childish face to resemble a similar expression to Nutty's before shrugging his shoulders in confusion. The others finally ticked on.

"Where the heck did Nutty go?"

**...~x~X~x~...**

Without the show or response of Flaky, Lammy and Petunia were beginning to impatiently call her name out. The young lamb was especially nerved; it wasn't like Flaky to ignore her, or anybody else for that matter. But experiencing similar situations with the porcupine that involved her instinctual worries and paranoia, Petunia figured that Flaky was simply mustering up her courage to trust the drop from the elevator, "Jeez, Flakes, it's not like you're going to break a leg or anything!"

Still, nothing said or heard. Lammy frowned in desperation to see her foster mother, "Please come down, Flaky."

What they were sadly oblivious to was the warning knife held lightly against the base of her throat. Flaky knew to keep her mouth shut, having been toyed with and threatened by Evil many times before. The bear slowly removed his hand from over her trembling mouth, trusting in her smart-headed self to refrain from calling for help. Before saying anything, Evil listened to the shuffle of Petunia's and Lammy's tiring feet; the two were still there waiting, but that's not what Evil wanted.

As he took his dog tags from the porcupine's shaking hand, he leaned his head towards hers to whisper, "I'm not going to hurt you if you kindly cooperate, I just want to talk without the annoyance of that skunk in my way."

Flaky's nerve-wracked features were replaced with confusion, "What are you talking about?" The male's ear twitched as a distant sound caught his attention, "Forget it for now, just get out of the hotel with them...but don't go anywhere else, wait for me." With that, Flaky was then pushed out from the hole to land on her feet in the elevator, the thud catching Petunia and Lammy by surprise.

"What are you even doing in there, Flaky?" Petunia nagged in irritation; the skunkette was dying to get out of the scruffiness of the hotel.

After gazing up into the black abyss of the now empty hole, Flaky shook off her unsettling goosebumps from Evil's sudden appearance and disappearance to exit the elevator. She forced an innocent smile, showing the two unhappy girls the object between her fingers, "I d-dropped one of hair pins..." Lammy smiled back at her motherly porcupine and held her hand once again. Petunia rolled her eyes, "Right, whatever, let's just go already."

On their way out, Flaky allowed her cautious eyes to scan every inch of every area - who knows what Flippy's counterpart was up to. Flippy...the very name made Flaky hope and pray that he had switched over Evil, and was back to his normal self. The previous appearance of the menacing doppelganger had left Flaky curious as to why she wasn't murdered back there, along with Lammy and Petunia. But seeing as though he left, Flaky decided to focus more on their mysterious settlement more than anything.

Petunia inhaled and exhaled a breath of fresh air the moment they exited the front doors of the hotel, dusting and shaking off whatever uncleanliness she could from herself too. The air had a rather smoky taste to it, and it was potent with a singed smell. Flaky and Lammy shot Petunia a sympathetic look, acknowledging the fact that she was eventually going to shatter under the peering pressure of her obsessive disorder. But with her favoured scented tree around her neck, the skunk found herself easing a little bit.

Eager to press on to somewhere else, and to find other people, Petunia was the first to speak out with her own plan, "Alright, now that we're out of that dump, we should head in that direction, there are more buildings by the looks of it," She began, pointing over to the few taller buildings in sight. Flaky shook her head, remembering what Evil had told her to do, "We can't go anywhere yet, Evi- I mean, we should wait a little longer...in case someone comes to us."

Petunia shot her a doubtful look, "No one's going to come to us at an abandoned hotel, Flaky, look around you - the whole place is deserted, not just the hotel."

The skunkette was right, and all it took was simple scan of the bare, run-down and trashed landscape for Flaky to understand. Flashes of the moment of panic in the cave sprung to mind; the machine malfunctioned and sparked and buzzed, then suddenly everything went completely black. The only things that were clear enough for Flaky to remember didn't seem to make any sense when it came to them waking up in some hotel in the outskirts of a busy area. But Flaky knew one thing, and that was her hopes in finding more familiar faces.

"Did you hear that...?" Lammy whispered, tugging at Flaky's hand. Unsure, both Petunia and Flaky shared a glance, "Hear what?" The sknunk asked.

Lammy's head darted in all directions to scope for a source to what she'd heard. It sounded like a wail, but it was certainly abnormal to her ears. The older women looked around in confusion, unable to hear what Lammy was hearing.

"There it is again!"

"Lammy, there's probably nothing out there, stop worrying." Flaky stated, attempting to calm the lamb by stoking her curly head of hair.

An outburst of much louder unusual wails immediately caught the attention of Flaky and Petunia, and they shuddered in an unpleasant surprise. Each of them spun to face the hotel, the obvious source of the sound, and slowly took steps back out of caution. Petunia huddled closer to the two, and held Lammy's other hand.

"What on earth...?" Petunia mumbled, gawking at the hotel. The sounds changed from higher up to lower down, almost as if there was more than one thing making the strange noises.

It was hard to determine what was even making the noise, as there was nothing to be seen. The three of them didn't want to stick around to find out, and were quick to scurry away in the opposite direction of the hotel, towards the distant buildings.

Just after the three girls ran off in fear, the wails turned to shrieks, and one by one they were silenced by their demise. Not long after the abnormal sounds had died down, Evil had stumbled out of the hotel, caked in dark blood, with one of the dead wailing creatures slumped over his shoulder,

"You are one ugly mother fucker," he muttered, his nose crinkling up in disgust as its rancid stench filled his nostrils. Expecting to see Flaky and the others waiting for him, he looked around the opening, only to find nothing of them, "What the- oh for crying out loud, Flaky!" Evil scowled, assuming that the porcupine had ran off thinking he was going to kill them.

To his luck, Evil managed to make out the three familiar figures further out in the distance ahead of him. He sighed, knowing that he was going to struggle carrying this 'thing' on his shoulder for so long, "...Fantastic."

Nonetheless, he began to follow in their direction.

**...~x~X~x~...**

"Phew! Finally." Sniffles exhaled, slumping back against the bonet of a truck, "Alright, Flippy, give it a shot now."

The moment Sniffles called out to him, Flippy flicked the exposed wires from underneath the steering column in yet another attempt to bring the truck to life. But like his previous try, nothing happened. Shifty impatiently rolled his eyes from outside the vehicle as he watched the bear frustratedly force any kind of hopeful spark from the wires. The racoon turned to Sniffles who occupied himself at the engine of the truck, waiting for a it to hum, or even sputter at the least.

"Jerkface isn't showing us any succes." He said, smirking at his own snide comment. Flippy heard it, and cursed with his colourful words; both angry at Shifty, and his lack of luck with hotwiring the truck.

Sniffles frowned in thought, wondering if there was something missing, and walked around the where Flippy was, "Exactly what wires are you using there, Flippy?" The anteater asked. Flippy looked up at him with the two wires in each hand, "The starter and ignition...why?"

Sniffles face-palmed in annoyance, "Do you see any red wires?" Flippy looked at the bundle of wires and spotted the red one, "What good is the battery wire going to do with starting it up?" The pale green male quizzed.

Sniffles ignored his question and walked off back towards the engine, "Just do it."

Flippy moodily huffed in irritation; there's nothing that got on his nerves more than being bossed around by a know-it-all. So to get it over and done with, Flippy detached the red wire from the rest of the bundle, tore off the tip of its insulation and proceeded to twist it with the other two wires at hand. Finally, after several tries at revving the engine, the truck started up. Sniffles smiled, slamming the truck's bonet shut before getting into the passenger's side, Shifty of course sat in the back, avoiding the oppurtunity to sit up front with the grumpy veteran.

Before Flippy could even drive anywhere, Sniffles pointed out that the truck only had a minimum amount of fuel left, "Well what do you expect me to do, genius?" Flippy snarked in annoyance. Sniffles hated to state the obvious, "Oh I dunno, Flip, maybe you could find a gas station or something! You know, those places that allow you to-"

"_Alright, alright! _Quit your shitty sarcasm before I throw you in the backseat with that other braindead." At this rate, Flippy was somewhat starting to think that Shifty was the easier one to converse with.

To their surprise, the nearest gas station was just down the road from where they'd found the stray truck, and Flippy instantly turned into it and parked by one of the dispensers. Both Flippy and Sniffles exited the truck to see if the pumps were still up and running, leaving Shifty to sit alone in the car.

The racoon took off his hat and roughed his damp hair up before placing it on his head once more. The station's store looked like a rather tempting place to snoop around in the moment it caught his eyes. So before exiting the truck, he glanced over his shoulder to check what Flippy and Sniffles were doing, no doubt they were ratting on at each other with witty remarks once again - well, Sniffles more than Flippy, whom had grown tired of Sniffles' unnecessary arguments and got on with filling up the truck's tank.

In a flash, the dark green male had disappeared into the shop, and was already walking around in search for goods. Although in this case, 'goods' meant the more vital things at the moment: food and water. The fridge holding the drinks came into view, but sadly Shifty wasn't able to get his hands on anything useful. Still, he searched on, hoping that he'd at least find food instead of drink; leaving any kind of store empty-handed was pretty much forbidden to the kleptomaniac twins, and it just wouldn't feel right to Shifty to pass up on the chance to raid a store that was free of any supervision - getting caught was especially a no-go.

The store was a mess, just like every other area they'd been through, which made it difficult for Shifty to find anything worth taking. Aisles were tipped over, and lot of the supplies they'd held were crushed under their weight. After a few more minutes of searching high and low, Shifty settled on what he'd stuffed in his pockets; a pack of ten cigarettes, a box of matches, a pair of intact reading glasses and a chocolate bar (which he wasn't going to share of course).

"Well this was a total waste of time." Shifty sighed to himself, having expected to have found more things to take. But the store was in too much of a wreck to go crawling through.

The sound of the engine from outside almost made his heart stop as he thought the two were driving off on him. Shifty raced outside to see where the truck was, only to find a childish bear behind its wheel as he drove around the dispensers in a circle. Sniffles was laughing senselessly at Shifty's downright startled expression, but Flippy was simply glaring at him with a coy smirk.

"You guys are fucking lame. I knew you wouldn't have driven off on me anyway." Shifty mumbled as he entered the car once again, whilst also hiding his embarrassment. Flippy and Sniffles shot him a bemused look, but soon noticed that the pockets of his pants were full with whatever he'd taken from the shop, "Oh, now you want to know what I found in the store?"

It didn't take much more than a threatening look from Flippy for Shifty to empty his pockets of their contents. The cigarettes caught Flippy's eye, along with the matches, leaving Shifty no choice but to hand them over. The glasses were easy to spot through Sniffles' slightly unfocused vision, so Shifty didn't really bother too much about handing them to him, considering his pair were smashed and abandoned. Other than parting with the few things he'd found, Shifty was just happy that he'd stashed his chocolate bar under his hat.

"Hey now, don't I even get a thanks from you fellas?" Shifty spat, surprisingly expecting manners even though he's never been the type to show them himself.

Flippy lit one of the cigarettes with a match, and then started up the engine before driving off, "You'll get a thank you when you find out how to fix this mess that you put us in."

**...~x~X~x~...**

After Nutty's sudden disappearance, the rest were left with no choice but to search for him. But having very little patience for the obnoxious squirrel meant that Handy was going to stand idle with a rather uncapable Toothy instead of searching with the others. Mime looked carefully around them to see if Nutty had left the slightest of clues as to where he'd gone off too. His eyes trailed over to the candy store, but it had took him another look at the busted, flickering shop sign for the mute to comprehend it.

With full confidence that the sugar lover would be in there, Mime turned to Splendid to point him in the direction of the store. Splendid raised an eye brow, noticing how trashed and torn down the inside of the store looked, but shrugged realising that Nutty would literally kill for anything sweet, so the state of the place wouldn't hold him back.

"Lifty, you're coming in with me." Splendid said, dragging the off-guard racoon by his collar, "What? Why?" Lifty asked. Splendid sighed, "I simply don't trust you, now move it."

With that comment, Splendid marched into the shop with Lifty dragging his heels behind him. Mime went back to join Handy and Toothy, shrugging awkwardly at the impatient beaver's scowl, "They'd better not take forever in there."

As the pungent stench instantly reach their noses upon entering, Splendid and Lifty both squeezed their noses shut and grimaced. The racoon was about to turn and leave, but Splendid had already yanked at his arm. Lifty rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat, knowing that he wasn't going to get out of the search any time soon. Like every other store they've came across, this one welcomed them with a bomb-hit mess; the glass windows were shattered, aisles were toppled over and in pieces, and even parts of the ceiling had crumbled and fell onto the remains of the store. The two knew to tred carefully.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Lifty called out, cupping his hands around his mouth, "Nutt-job Nutty!"

Splendid dug his elbow harshy into Lifty's back to silence his name-calling, "Shut up with your crap already!" he hissed, gaining nothing but a coy grin from the racoon.

Careful in their footing, they made their way further into the store, dodging any mess of sticky spills and glass piles along the way, until they came across something rather unsettling.

"Ugh! What the fuck is that?!" Lifty , shielding his eyes from the sight before them. Splendid's eye remained on it however, but a sickening feeling began to ooze at the pit of his stomach as the sight and stench overtook his senses, then before he knew it he vomited. Lifty backed away immediately and scowled the squirrel for doing so, "Eww! You almost touched me with your freakin' sick!"

Splendid ignored Lifty's childish whining and sheepishly turned to gaze at the heap of rotting flesh once more. Now they knew what that awful smell was coming from, but didn't expect to find the remains of a corpse. Due to the lack of fur and distinguishing features, Lifty and Splendid had no idea who the corpse once was, so they decided to shuffle away from it before both their stomachs gave in to the stench.

In a hurry to leave this place behind, the two were now frantically calling after Nutty and searching wherever was approachable and safe; seeing a dismembered corpse was enough for them to turn their backs on store. But this time, Lifty was dragging a rather slow Splendid, whom was somewhat stunned by the sight.

"Wait! We didn't find Nutty!" Splendid suddenly implied, having shaken out of a trance of shock as the air outside hit his face. Lifty shook his head and continued towards the other three waiting for them, "Fuck that moron, I'm not going back in there!"

Splendid had his mind set on finding the missing squirrel, and instantly stopped in his tracks, "No, because unlike you, I actually care about the safety of others. You guys can go on with out me, but I'm finding Nutty."

As they all watched the powerless hero rush back into the candy store, Handy was the only to groan in agitation at how long they've been waiting. Toothy rolled his eyes and limped over to an old car to sit on its bonnet; his arms were tiring after holding onto the crutches for support for so long. Mime, obviously, remained quiet and, somehow, seated on his invisible chair.

But Lifty was the only to take Splendid's last sentance seriously, "Well?" he started, receiving a bunch of uninterested glances from the rest, "You heard the man, he said we can go on without him!"

If Handy's unmoving frown could kill, the rest of the poor men would be goners from the moment they woke up; Handy's frustration was too loud and unmissable for the others to ignore, "Look, Lifty, I may be extremely pissed off after being made to stand here like an idiot for almost 20 minutes, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go on without him."

"Yeah he's right, Lifty, you're kinda being an ass about everything." Toothy bluntly added, still perched otop of the rusted vehicle.

Lifty huffed in defeat and slumped himself on top of a different car to Toothy, shooting daggers from his glares at each and every one of them. Sometimes, Lifty often wondered why he and his brother hardly ever socialised with the rest of the Tree Friends, but taking in the way he's been treated for the past few hours made it quite obvious that theives weren't accepted with open arms...or nubs.

The corpse was avoided at all costs when Splendid returned to the store in search for Nutty. Considering there was no signs of any sweets that were edible and intact, Nutty has certainly delved deep somwhere in the place. But the pure silence of the shop made it hard to believe that Nutty, the non-stop giggling, sugar addict, was going to be so quiet in the remains of a sweet shop. Still, the blue male searched on.

Unexpectedly, Nutty was heard shrieking from one of the ceiling's holes above him. Splendid almost jumped out of his fur at the sudden sound, but was quick to act. Not quick enough, however, as the last thing he felt before slamming onto the ground was the weight of Nutty's falling body. Despite being the size of a typical teen, Nutty was heavy, and caused Splendid to grumbled and heave in pain as he tried to push the green male off of him with his average strength.

"Nutty! Your...crushing...my...ribcage!" Splendid sputtered through his lack of breathing. Nutty didn't stop to apologise as he quickly rolled off of the crushed hero to make a hurried dash for the door, almost tripping over his own feet along the way.

"What's his damn problem...?" Splendid mumbled through angry, gritted teeth, rubbing his hand over his sore ribs. He then began to wonder if Nutty had seen the corpse...but then again, he was screaming from upstairs, not downstairs, _'Is there something worse up there...?'_ he pondered to himself, swallowing back his unusual fear.

It didn't take long for Splendid to leave the grim candy store to rejoin the others. Who and whatever was in there may have been the reason for there to be an unknown mutilated body at the back of the shop. What irritated Splendid was the unwanted lacking of his signature superpowers, because he knew that they would've brought him the nerve to seek out what had left Nutty in a speechless state of shock. Toothy, being a much closer friend, tried his best to squeeze words from the squirrel, but not even the offer of his last chewing gum could draw his attention. _Something was very off._

**A.N: Things are about to get spicy! Or gory. Or...well whatever's to happen.**

**Let me know what you think so far and review guys! I'd really love to hear from you all, and thank you so much to all of my follwers, fav's and reviewers, you all bring me joy through my struggles c': seriously though.**

**If you spot any mistakes, I do aoplogise, I've been quite stressed lately and I've been dying to get this done, so it's a little rushed...but I hope it's still good!**

**Oh, and the romance? Well, that'll be here soon, loveliessss~!**


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